As a follow-up to a story we reported here: The private health information of 1900 local patients may have been compromised when a Jacksonville doctor gave his computer away. Dr. Francis D. Ong resigned from his position as a University of Florida assistant professor of plastic surgery at the College of Medicine-Jacksonville. UF privacy officials…
Author: Dissent
Canada: Calgary seniors' health information on stolen computers
Dozens of Calgary seniors are alarmed after learning their credit-card numbers, addresses and health-card numbers were stored on computers that were stolen recently. The Academy Hearing Centre in Brentwood Mall, which provides hearing tests and equipment, mostly to seniors, recently mailed out letters warning of the theft. “I got scared,” said one elderly female client…
Google defends privacy policy after Google Health launch
Richard Thurston reports in SC Magazine: Google has defended its privacy policy following the launch of a service which offers to manage users’ medical information online. Google yesterday launched Google Health, a hosted service which allows users to store and manage information regarding their health online, and share that information with nominated individuals. Privacy campaigners…
NHS to encrypt 700,000 devices
Richard Thurston reports in SC Magazine: Connecting for Health, the NHS agency behind the troubled National Programme for IT, is to purchase 700,000 encryption licences for its desktop PCs, laptops and smartphones. The encryption software, which will be provided by McAfee, should help limit the impact of any further data loss. Full story – SC…
HealthSpring says laptop with personal data stolen
Wendy Lee reports: Nashville-based managed care company HealthSpring Inc. said Wednesday a laptop computer containing personal information of about 450 state residents was stolen in March. The laptop, believed to contain names, dates of birth and social security numbers of about 9,000 individuals, was stolen from a HealthSpring employee’s locked car on March 30 in…
Aetna chief downplays Google Health's potential
Chris Kanaracus of IDG News Service reports: A top medical insurance executive on Wednesday downplayed the potential impact of services from Microsoft and Google that are aimed at helping users store and share their health records with providers. Google Health went into beta on Monday. It follows the launch of similar efforts, such as Microsoft’s…